The world today confronts a water crisis with critical implications for peace, political stability and economic development, experts warn in a new report being launched Sept. 11 jointly by the InterAction Council (IAC), a group of 40 prominent former government leaders and heads of state, together with the United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health, and Canada's Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. "The future political impact of water scarcity may be devastating," says former Canadian Prime Minister and IAC co-chair Jean Chrétien. "Using ...

A program delivering collaborative maternity care resulted in fewer cesarean deliveries, shorter average hospital stays and higher breast-feeding rates for mothers, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The South Community Birth Program was established in Vancouver, British Columbia, to deliver comprehensive care from a collaboration of family doctors, midwives, public health nurses and doulas to an ethnically diverse, low-income population. Researchers compared perinatal outcomes for 1238 women in the South Community Birth Program receiving ...

Influenza vaccination rates vary widely in Canada by ethnicity, with black and white Canadians being the least likely to be vaccinated, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Research on vaccination rates among ethnic minorities in Canada is scarce, despite many studies in the United States showing clear disparities in vaccination rates among minorities and whites. However, the findings are not the same in Canada given existing differences in vaccine delivery and populations. Canadian researchers undertook a study to estimate influenza vaccine ...

Most pharmaceutical drugs in Canada are manufactured overseas in countries such as India, China and others, yet how can we be confident the drug supply is safe, writes a drug policy researcher in an opinion piece in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Alarmed by alerts about potentially harmful products such as nonprescription erectile dysfunction drugs with names like Uprizing 2.0 and Ying Da Wang — most from overseas — Alan Cassels began to think about pharmaceutical drugs sold in Canada. Are they safe? Who regulates them? "Most Canadians probably don't know ...

PHILADELPHIA — How does one's experience of an event get translated into a memory that can be accessed months, even years later? A team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists has come closer to answering that question, identifying key molecules that help convert short-term memories into long-term ones. These proteins may offer a target for drugs that can enhance memory, alleviating some of the cognitive symptoms that characterize conditions including schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Joshua Hawk, now a postdoctoral research fellow ...

Tracking malaria parasites in the liver Plasmodium falciparum is the most deadly human malaria parasite, causing more than 800,000 deaths per year. After the parasite enters the blood stream, it travels to the liver where it serially invades liver cells (hepatocytes), until it settles down to form a parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Once ensconced in its PV, the parasite undergoes a process known as liver stage (LS) development during which it spawns tens of thousands of new parasites. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Stefan Kappe and colleagues at ...

Iron overload increases the risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes; however, the exact mechanisms that link the two are unknown. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Donald McClain and colleagues at the University of Utah report that serum ferritin levels could predict the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome in humans and were inversely associated with the expression of adiponectin, a blood glucose-regulating protein produced by fat cells (adipocytes). Treatment of adipocytes with iron decreased adiponectin levels, indicating that adipocytes ...

Bethesda, MD—September 10, 2012 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the September 2012 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, GENETICS. The September issue is available online at www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit GENETICS, Vol. 192, September 2012, Copyright © 2012. ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS Weak selection and protein evolution, pp. 15-31 Hiroshi Akashi, Naoki Osada, and Tomoko Ohta The rapid proliferation of genome sequence data has renewed interest in the causes of molecular evolution. The authors review the basis of the "nearly ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 10, 2012) – Women and girls are at increased risk of adverse outcomes after surgical treatment for moyamoya disease, an uncommon but serious disease of the brain blood vessels, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Although the postoperative risks are increased, patients of both sexes with moyamoya disease achieve significant improvement after surgery. The study was performed ...

September 10, 2012 (SILVER SPRING, Md.) – Scientists used genetic sequencing to discover new evidence that the first vaccine shown to prevent HIV infection in people also affected the viruses in those who did become infected. Viruses with two genetic "footprints" were associated with greater vaccine efficacy. The results were published today in the online edition of the journal Nature. "This is the first time that we have seen pressure on the virus at the genetic level due to an effective HIV vaccine," said Morgane Rolland, Ph.D., a scientist at the U.S. Military HIV ...

SALT LAKE CITY – Researchers from the University of Utah have gained new insight into the regulation of adult nerve cell generation in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates many aspects of behavior, mood, and metabolism. In the Sept. 10, 2012, issue of Developmental Cell they report that a cell-to-cell communication network known as the Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in both the production and specialization of nerve cell precursors in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a highly complex region of the brain that controls hunger, thirst, ...

BOSTON––A molecule that targets the cell's machinery for breaking down unneeded proteins can kill multiple myeloma cancer cells resistant to the frontline drug Velcade, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found. In a study published online by the journal Cancer Cell, the investigators report that the small molecule P5091 triggered apoptosis -- programmed cell death -- in drug-resistant myeloma cells grown in the laboratory and in animals. The anti-myeloma effect was even more powerful when researchers combined P5091 with other therapies. "Velcade was one ...

MADISON – The protein GATA2 is known as a "master regulator" of blood cell development. When a mutation occurs in the gene that makes GATA2, serious blood diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia can result. Zooming in on the GATA2 gene, UW-Madison researchers and their collaborators at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered unexpectedly that a small DNA sequence drives this powerful master regulator. The sequence plays an essential role in controlling GATA2 production and generating self-renewing blood stem cells responsible for the earliest steps ...

NEW YORK (September 10, 2012) -- A new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows combining two already-FDA approved drugs may offer a new and potent punch against diseases in which blood vessel growth is abnormal -- such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis. Their study, published in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Developmental Cell, is the first to show that a protein, sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor-1 (S1P1), is a key player in angiogenesis -- the growth process of new blood vessels in the body from pre-existing ...

Ottawa, Canada (September 10, 2012) − A new study just published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (APNM) reaffirms the crucial role exercise along with good nutrition play in maintaining health and fighting disease. "Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most frequent cancer worldwide, ranking third among all cancer-related deaths. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that physical exercise helps to prevent cancer and improving quality of life," says Dr. Luís Fernando Barbisan, a coauthor of this study and a researcher ...

The Old Testament Studies and Biblical Archaeology division of the Faculty of Protestant Theology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) this year again conducted excavations on the ancient hill of Jaffa in Israel. The recent excavations have not only shed new light on the destruction of elements of the fortification, but also unearthed evidence pointing towards the presence of an Egyptian population on the site. Historically, Jaffa, now part of the city of Tel Aviv, is the oldest port documented in world history. ...

Amsterdam, September 10, 2012 — Physics Letters B, Elsevier's flagship journal in high energy physics, announced today that the observations of the long-sought Higgs particle, hailed as one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time, have been published. The papers: "Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC" and "Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC" are freely available online on ScienceDirect. In July 2012, The European Organization for Nuclear ...

A computer is being taught to interpret human emotions based on lip pattern, according to research published in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing. The system could improve the way we interact with computers and perhaps allow disabled people to use computer-based communications devices, such as voice synthesizers, more effectively and more efficiently. Karthigayan Muthukaruppanof Manipal International University in Selangor, Malaysia, and co-workers have developed a system using a genetic algorithm that gets better and better with ...

In a special report in The Lancet [1], researchers from Queen Mary, University of London (UK) argue that pending cases against India's patent laws threaten public health and misinterpret international intellectual property agreements. The report, which is published today (Monday), highlights legal challenges by two pharmaceutical companies, Bayer and Novartis, to key provisions of India's Patents Act. Bayer's appeal was heard last week, and the Indian Supreme Court is due to hear Novartis' appeal tomorrow (11th September). In their report, "India's patent laws under ...

A study by the University of Southampton has shown that women are having children later in life mainly because they are spending longer in education. Research by Professor Máire Ní Bhrolcháin and Dr Éva Beaujouan of the ESRC Centre for Population Change at the University reveals that finishing full-time education and training at an older average age is the main reason why people are having their first child later in life – both in Britain and in France. Professor Ní Bhrolcháin comments, "Later childbearing has been a major feature of fertility trends in recent decades, ...

Millions of us send billions of emails back and forth each day without much concern for their security. On the whole, security is not a primary concern for most day-to-day emails, but some emails do contain personal, proprietary and sensitive information, documents, media, photos, videos and sound files. Unfortunately, the open nature of email means that they can be intercepted and if not encrypted easily read by malicious third parties. Even with the PGP - pretty good privacy - encryption scheme first used in 1995, if a sender's private "key" is compromised all their previous ...

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have patented and are commercializing GaAs nanowires grown on graphene, a hybrid material with competitive properties. Semiconductors grown on graphene are expected to become the basis for new types of device systems, and could fundamentally change the semiconductor industry. The technology underpinning their approach has recently been described in a publication in the American research journal Nano Letters. The new patented hybrid material offers excellent optoelectronic properties, says Professor ...

Thieves are unlikely to appreciate this fabric, which looks innocuous but in fact incorporates a fine web of conductive threads connected to a microcontroller that detects warning signals emitted when the fabric is cut and triggers an alarm. This system can be used to protect buildings, bank vaults, and trucks against even the most wily of intruders. Vehicles parked overnight at truck stops are particularly vulnerable to attacks by thieves who slit open the canvas tarp covering the trailer while the driver is asleep and make off with the cargo. If the tarp were made from ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than a cancer-causing gene is needed to trigger pancreatic cancer, a study led by Mayo Clinic has found. A second factor creates a "perfect storm" that allows tumors to form, the researchers say. The study, published in the Sept. 10 issue of Cancer Cell, overturns the current belief that a mutation in the KRAS oncogene is enough to initiate pancreatic cancer and unrestrained cell growth. The findings uncover critical clues on how pancreatic cancer develops and why few patients benefit from current therapies. The findings also provide ideas about ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new software tool to prevent performance disruptions in cloud computing systems by automatically identifying and responding to potential anomalies before they can develop into problems. Cloud computing enables users to create multiple "virtual machines" that operate independently, even though they are all operating on one large computing platform. However, this approach can cause performance issues when a software bug, or other problem, in one virtual machine disrupts the entire cloud. Now researchers ...